Mountain lion/woods gun

Cats don't really like attacking things looking at them, so put a pair of sunglasses on the back of your head when hiking.

I carry my 44 mag Blackhawk or redhawk most of the time in the backcountry, but anything 38spcl+p or up would work. Mostly you want a fast follow up shot weapon, cuz a mountain lion can and will move like lightning. The only one I ever actually shot was with the 44 redhawk.

 

I've seen most of John Wayne's movies, which one did he shoot a cougar in?

 

Your wolf attack numbers are wrong.
http://www.timberwolfinformation.org/wolf-attacks-on-humans-in-north-america/

 

Hmmm, it may take me a little time to get through all of these for your answer....
ALL JOHN WAYNE MOVIES IN ORDER FROM THE START - IMDb

 

Those are not my numbers. See the authors of the articles about that.

Also, my post was a response to cougars and bears, not wolves.

 

Should have said “the numbers” rather than “your numbers”. It seems like the numbers regarding animal attacks reported all depend on the biases of the author. If you like wolves or mountain lions, then the wilderness is like Disney and the animals are all innocent and friendly.

 

If it weren't dangerous I don't know that I'd like to be there so much...

 

My greatgrandfather was attacked by wolves. There was a famous man killer wolf in the area around 1900.

 

So, Meeks...was it Powerball, Mega-Millions, or just your state’s lottery that you won?

Sam

 

This was my thought too, to a certain extent. I believe it is well-documented in India that when a “person”-eating-tiger is known to be in the area, many people walk around with a mask of a face, on the back of their heads...the theory being that a tiger will not attack its prey, ‘head-on’.

Sam

 

Well at the time I thought

My cougar wasn’t a big kitty. Was a older lady. And I thought I won the lottery at the time.

 

A 25 acp will kill if shot placement is perfect........but I would prefer a 357/40/45/10MM !

 

Been hiking and hunting in the Idaho woods for forty years and have seen two cougars. Amazing creatures to see in the wild.

I have friends that hunt them with hounds. They use a .22 pistol The dogs tree the cat and they just walk up to the base of the tree, shoot the cat in the head, and that's it.

But if I was worried about a cougar attack, I would think that because they pounce on you from behind from an elevated position, and attempt to sever your spinal cord and jugular vein as quick as possible, the most relevant defense would be a thick scarf, lol.

If I was set upon by a cougar and rolling around in the dirt with one latched on my neck, I'd likely be better off grabbing my bush knife instead of my G29...

 

Good looking "bush" knife. What is it - a TOPS brand of some kind?

 

That picture says it all!
It's one thing to shoot one out of a tree with a .22 or such after it has been treed and you have time to get a clean shot. It's another thing when THAT cat is is about to turn you into a rag toy. I agree with the magnum boys on this one. After all, self defense is the purpose the OP suggest, right?

 

A lot of truth to the scarf as protection. A good hiking pack has saved a few people from serious injury. And I think a knife might be a better tool than a gun to deal with a cat anyway. Or a samurai sword. Heck, a trekking pole would be useful too.

 

Ontario RAT 5. A bit big, but it is a serious hunk of steel for under $100...

 

Amen, regarding the carry of a serious blade. I am glad to live in a state with a Penal Code that is blade-friendly, and glad that a state I really like to visit is also blade-friendly.

 

Nice. I’m an Esee slut myself.

 

I spooked a decent sized black bear diving my SxS on a trail leading West into the Sierra from Swall Meadows, just North of Bishop, Ca about three years ago.

That critter turned and ran away so fast it left a trail of dust in its wake.

While an occasional cat or bear might be bumped into, I am more wary of two footed mopes trying to dry gulch me than four footed ones. Usually a 9mm loaded with 127 gr +P+ SXT rides with me when I’m out.

Stay safe.

 

Exactly! As I've previously mentioned, before we grew so old and infirmed, my wife and I were avid backpackers, and I carried (along with bear spray) either a heavily loaded .41 Mag, or a heavily loaded .45 Colt for protection from "Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh, My!"
Now that I think back on those days though, I remember the times when I felt the most ill at ease on backpacking trips was when we were at the trailheads. Sometimes those "two footed mopes" you wrote about hang out at trailheads, yet we never saw a one of them when we were 15 miles into the wilderness. All we ever saw when we were deep into the wilderness was the occasional "running away" black bear, one "running away" cougar, and a few stupid moose that we had to detour around. So the truth is, when we were on our backpacking trips, I'd probably have been a lot better off carrying my regular "in town" CCW than my single action Ruger Blackhawk loaded with "Ruger Only" .45 Colt loads.

 

I like these threads to see the variety of handguns that are carried for the just in case of a bear or other four legged critters. Carry a big gun that you can shoot really well and very fast because the animals are fast. But your biggest threat is going to be two legged. @.308 Norma said it the best it will be at the start of the trail or a little ways down the trail but it's the threat. A 357, 41, 44 all work great on cats and on two legged snakes.

 

For a mt. lion you don't need a hell stomping round like you would for a bear or wild boar. A hot .38spl hollow point, 9mm JHP would be more than sufficient for a kitty of this size. Personally if I were going to the woods for any length of time I would carry a .357 magnum with a snake round and the rest hunting rounds.

 

Several years ago I saw an article, I think by Bob Milek, about a cougar hunt he went on with a professional hunter. They used dogs to tree the cat, and then shot it out of the tree before it would come down to attack the dogs. The pro recommended a revolver loaded with 22 magnums.